Round-cornering machine



June 28, 1938.

E. SOUTHWORTH ROUND-CORNERING MACHINE Filed April 6, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheetl Invulor,

Edward Joull tworih. .3) a Z flttq.

June 1938. E. SOUTHWORTH 7 86 ROUND-CORNERING MACHINE Filed lfil e, 19572 Shets-Shet 2 uui- "u v '"Invuiofl Edward Joulkworllv.

Patented June 28, 1938 UNlT STATES PATENT FFECE 8 Claims.

The invention hereinafter to be described relates to so-calledround-cornering machines such as are used by printers and book-bindersin rounding the corners of cards and sheets of paper of various kinds.

The present invention deals more particularly with'improvements which Ihave evolved in a machine employed for the foregoing purpose and forwhich United States Letters Patent No. 629,824 was granted me on August1, 1899.

In certain other types of card and paper roundcornering devices thebinding force on the stack of paper which is being operated on isexerted by a spring.

As some grades of paper are more difiicult to out than are others, andparticularly as the cutting knife is apt to become quickly dulled, thepressure to operate the knife must be largely increased at times. Butthis increased pressure of the knife on the paper will often create alateral thrust tending to move the sheets away from the aligning gages,resulting in unsymmetrical rounding, of the corners.

The spring, in this instance, is seldom able to cope with the situationand for this reason is an objectionable method of binding the stack tothe table.

In my former invention, as well also as in my present one, the method ofoperation does not contemplate relying on spring pressure for retainingthe stack of paper on the cutting table, but is based on the principleof applying a positive, unyielding pressure on the stack of an amountcomparable to and in accordance with that required to force the knifethrough the paper material.

This would imply that, to all intents and purposes, the knife-actuatingmember fulcrums on the stack of paper material being round-cornered, andthe pressure on the stack is thus measured and controlled under allconditions by the amount of power expended in forcing the knife throughthe paper at any point throughout the whole round-corner-cuttingoperation.

With this arrangement the pressure on the stack of paper increases ordecreases in accord- .ance with the increase or decrease, respectively,in resistance to the passage of the cutting knife through the stack ofpaper.

One of the objects of my present invention is to equip myround-cornering machine with a foot-actuated treadle, thereby enablingthe operator to use both hands exclusively for loading and unloading thepaper material into and out of the machine, thus increasing itsproductive capacity.

Another object is to provide means to re-position the binder element onthe binder rod, to compensate for varying thicknesses of the stack ofpaper, and also to eliminate lost motion in the preliminary movement ofthe treadle, just prior to the start of the round-cornering operation.

And a further object resides in the lever structure which providesgreater stroke movement of the parts than can be conveniently procuredby cam .devices, with which my former invention was equipped.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawings in whichlike reference characters are employed to identify like parts throughoutthe various views.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of my improved round -cornering machine;

Fig. 2 shows an alternative arrangement for the knife-actuating parts;

Fig. 2a shows an alternative form of binder;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on line 33, Fig. 1;

Figs. 4 and 5 depict the machine with the treadle shown in two differentpositions;

Fig. 6 is a rear end View of the treadle and connecting parts;

Fig. '7 is a section taken on line 'Il, Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the top portion of the machine;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on line 99, Fig. 5, and

Figs. 10, 11, and 12 show diagrams of the moving parts in threedifferent positions.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is a pedestal which supports the table 2upon which is mounted the frame 3.

On the front of the frame is mounted a vertically reciprocating rod 4,slidable in bearings 5 and 6 made integral with the frame 3. The upperend of the rod 4 is fixed in a hook member I which slidably engages across-pin 8 joining the forward ends of two rockers 9, 9. These rockersare pivotally mounted on the pin in secured in the upper end portion ofthe frame 3.

On the lower end of the rod 4 is adjustably secured a binder, or assometimes designated, presser-foot ll adapted to be positioned atvarious points on and vertically of the rod 4 through the agency of thepawl l2 pivotally secured on the binder member by the pin I211. The pawlmay engage, as desired, any one of the plurality of notches l3 made inthe side of the rod 3.

By disengaging the pawl from one of the notches and moving the binder llbodily, either Cir upwardly or downwardly on the rod. until the pawlengages another of the notches, it is possible to vary the distance fromthe bottom of the binder to the table, and in this manner eliminate muchwaste movement of the parts when the stack of paper to be cut is notfull height.

A spring l2b holds the pawl in engagement with the rod 4.

The ability to make this adjustment in the positioning of the bindermember is of great advantage when it is desired to change the height ofthe stack of cards or paper to be round cornered, as considerable legwork can be saved the operator of the machine by decreasing the distancethe treadle is required to be depressed to bring the binder into contactwith the stack of cards.

In Fig. 1 is illustrated one embodiment of the cutter-actuating parts asthey are disposed in the frame 3. In this particular assembly I employ acutter-bar l4 reciprocable vertically in bearings l5 and It, and on thelower end of the shaft secure an arcuate shape cutting knife I? by meansof the screw l8.

Intermediate the ends of the cutter-bar and adjustably secured theretoby a clamp screw I9, is a stop and knife-aligning collar having thereina hole 29 Within which the rod 4 is slidably disposed.

By relaxing the screw l9, cutter-bar l4 may be slightly rotated, ineither direction, to accurately bring the arcuate cutting edge of theknife into tangency with the two adjacent sides of the cards theintercepted corners of which are to be severed.

When the knife is properly adjusted, the clamp screw I9 is re-tightenedand thereafter, except accidental disarrangement of the knife occurs,alignment and correct registration of the knife with the cards ismaintained by the rod 4 which prevents rotation of the collar 20, thisfeature being clearly shown in the sectional elevation, Fig. l, and thesectional plan view, Fig. 7.

Now in its essential features the structure just described, forming aportion of my card and paper rounding machine, is quite similar to thatemployed in my former invention, mention of which has hereinbefore beenmade. The structure having to do With the actuation of the binder andcutting-knife members, however, is very dissimilar, when comparing myformer with my present invention, which latter I will now describe.

Installed in the pedestal l is a treadle 22 which operates in the frontand rear slotted apertures, 23 and 24 respectively. Contrary toconventional practice, in which a treadle is usually swung on a fixedpivotal connection serving as the fulcrum, my present inventioncontemplates a dual fulcrum arrangement for the treadle, the lattermember fulcruming on a cross-shaft 25 during the first portion of itsdownward swing, the member 25 being fixed in the two ears 2B of thetreadle and having on each outer end a roller 25a vertically slidable ina slot 2'! cut on each side of the pedestal l. Pivotally mounted on thecrossshaft 25, between the ears 26 is a connectingrod 28 extendingupwardly to make connection with the screw i9.

An extensible spring 29 acts to normally hold the collar 20 against thebearing I5 and the top of the treadle, in advance or forward of thecrossshaft 25, in engagement with the top ofthe slot 23, as at 23a.

The rearward end or short arm of the treadle is bent upwardly, forming afan shape structure with an eccentric, convex face 22a, on the inner endof which is a depression 22b.

When the treadle is disposed as shown in Fig. l, the roll 36, positionedbetween the branches of the yoke 3!, seats in the depression 22b, theroll being mounted over the pin 3m.

Rising from the yoke 3| is another connectingrod 32 making connectionwith the rearward ends of the two rockers 9, over the cross-pin 33, theconnecting-rod passing through an opening 34 in the table 2. I

To prevent displacement of the yoke 3i from off the arcuate face 22a ofthe treadle, I provide two pins 35, one on each side of the yoke,loosely holding the latter in place.

In Fig. 2 I illustrate a slightly modified form of connection with thecutting knife. In this instance the cutting knife if is attached to acollar 36 which clamps on the cutter-bar or shaft Ma by means of a screw37.

A knife-aligning and stop collar 20a is secured to the shaft Ma andserves in substantially the same capacity as does the collar 29 in thedesign just previously described. In each of these knifealigning andstop collars, 2B and 26a, a stopscrew 38 limits the downward movement ofthe knife by abutting on a stop shelf 39. This prevents the knife fromtoo deeply seating itself in the wooden cutting block it when at the endof its stroke, and makes fin-e adjustment of the knife possible.

- The connecting-rod 28 in this alternative form of structure is securedto the shaft Ma by a pin or screw 4|. In all other particulars the twodesigns may be quite similar.

It will be observed by reference to Figs. 10, 11 and 12, that thetreadle, while moving from position shown in Fig. 10 to that shown inFig. 11, swings on the cross-shaft 25 as a fulcruming point.

The upward pulling effort of the extensible spring 29 is yieldinglyexerted on the treadle at a point intermediate two contacting points,serving as stops, namely, the pivotal connection at 25 and the upper end23a of the slotted aperture 23.

For reasons hereinbefore given, I consider it preferred construction tomake the binder or presser-foot member as it is shown in Fig. 1. I may,however, elect to construct it as illustrated in Fig. 2a in which isdepicted a presser-foot Ila fixedly secured to the binder rod 8 by asetscrew 4a.

In operating my round-cornering machine a stack of cards or paper sheetsC, the corners of which are to be rounded, is first placed on the table2 and the gages 42 adjusted against adjacent sides of the stack to bringthem into tangency with the sides of the cutting knife H.

The operator then applies a pressure on the treadle, depressing the longarm A until, through the agency of the interconnecting elements, thepresserefoot H is brought down firmly on to the top of the stack. Thismovement is what I call the primary or stack-binding movement of thetreadle.

During this primary movement the treadle swings from its pivotalconnection with the connecting-rod 28 on the cross-shaft the spring 29yielding but still acting to hold the cuttingknife actuating parts intheir original positions.

It will be observed that at the beginning of the primary movement of thetreadle, the portion B thereof, swinging inwardly, raises the roll 3!]out of the depression 221) on to the eccentric part 22a. This results ingiving the binderactuating parts a sudden impetus and gain in movementcalculated to more expeditiously seat the binder on the stack of paper.

At the start of the depressing of the treadle in what I term thesecondary or stack-cutting movement, which in reality is a continuationof the primary movement, the fulcrum point immediately and automaticallyshifts from the cross-shaft to the roll 30, which latter had at thetermination of the primary movement reached its normal limit of upwardtravel.

Throughout the secondary movement the roll serves as the fulcrum pointof the treadle, the pivotal connection at 25 lowering with the treadleand bringing the knife and interconnecting parts downwardly until thecutting operation has been completed and the knife contacts the cuttingblock 40.

There is one feature in carrying out the secondary movement of thetreadle which I consider of more than ordinary importance. It concernsthe action which occurs as the eccentric face 22a swings under the roll30, toward the pedestal, thereby transmitting to the pivotal connectionat 25 a certain amount of added downward movement of this connection,independently of that procured by the treadle action in general.

Actually, of course, the fulcrum or rearward bearing point for thetreadle throughout its whole secondary movement is the roll 39, butrelatively speaking, and insofar as the result attained is concerned,there is what amounts to a progressive lowering of the fulcrum point,although perhaps more strictly speaking, a gradually increasing rise incontour of the rearward top face of the treadle which when engaging themore or less fixed roll 3! tends to lower the intermediate portions ofthe treadle, including the pivotal connection 25 which hasinterconnection with the cutting knife.

In consequence of this dual action of the treadle in depressing theknife-interconnecting parts a shorter swinging arc in the secondarymovement of the treadle and less leg action of the operator is required.

The round-cornering operation is most suc-' cessfully performed when theknife is sharp and the corners of the sheets square. The cuttingknife,however, will after a period become dulled and an increased applicationof pressure required to force it through the stack of material to beround-cornered.

In some designs of round-cornering machines this extra pressure on thestack would disarrange the sheets, for the reason that no correspondingincrease of pressure on the binder is present.

In my present invention this difficulty has been taken care of, as hashereinbefore been explained, by construction which transmits orcommunicates to the binder any excess pressure applied to thecutting-knife. In other words, the binder pressure is responsive to anychange in the pressure required to operate the knife.

When the corners of the sheets to be rounded are square, a knife afterthe order of that shown in Fig. 9, which embraces just ninety degrees onthe cutting edge, is theoretically all right. But in practice it will befound that it is quite difficult to hold the sheets to the gages so thata perfectly tangential cut is made. To overcome this, it is customary toextend the cutting edges of the knife slightly beyond the quarter of acircle, flaring them on each side two or three degrees, as at 43, on theextended portions. This will compensate for slight variations in gaging,and is hardly noticeable in the finished job, the error is so slight. Aknife of this type is shown at I'M.

A difficulty, however, frequently arising in round-cornering work, iswhere the sheets come quite considerably out of square on their corners.In this case it is possible to have three different kinds of angles,right, acute and obtuse, to deal with.

A full length gage on each side of the stack of paper will not worksatisfactorily under the foregoing conditions, so in my improvedconstruction I employ a gage as shown in Fig. 13, one side being quitesimilar to the gage shown in Fig. 9, but the other side constructed asshown at 42w in which there are two faces, one oblique to the other, ashort facet 421) being disposed closely adjacent the cutting-knife and along face 420 extending to the opposite end of' the gage member, as sayeight degrees more or less out of parallel with the short facet.

In placing the sheets on the table they are jogged hard against theregular gage 42, then the gage A211 is brought up into contact with theother side of the stack, the portion of the gage used to contact thepaper depending on whether the paper is out true or is out of square atthe corners. If out of square, the short facet 42b is presented to theside of the stack, which makes the gaging more accurate as contact onthis side is close to the cutting knife Ila. Otherwise the long portionof gage 42a may be used, as is done in the conventional way of gaging.

It has been found that with a gage of the foregoing description betterand more uniform work can be produced.

The character S in Fig. 13 would indicate that the gage was being usedon paper stock having corners out either more or less out of square,with the short facet being used in this instance.

A proper gage is absolutely essential in the operation of around-cornering machine, otherwise there is no assurance that thecorners of the sheets will be rounded symmetrically.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for rounding the corners of paper cards and sheets thecombination with a reciprocating binder-rod and a reciprocatingcutting-knife non-synchronously co-acting therewith, of a binder elementslidably mounted on said binder-rod, a pawl pivotally secured on saidbinder element, means on said binder-rod adaptedto be engaged by saidpawl to hold said binder in any one of various predetermined positionson and vertically of said binder-rod, a rollequipped connecting-rodmaking inter-connection with said binder-rod, a treadle havingintermediate its ends pivotal inter-connection with said cutting-knife,and an arcuate-face portion on the rearward end of said treadle slidablyengaging said roll-equipped connecting-rod, said portion beingeccentrically disposed with respect to the pivotal point of said treadleand adapted, when the forward end of the treadle is depressed, to swinginwardly and downwardly, lowering the rearward end of the treadlebodily.

2. In a round-cornering machine for paper sheets and cards thecombination with a reciprocating, arcuate-shape cutting-knife and abinder-rod cooperatively connected but nonsynchronously reciprocatingtherewith, of a binder element adjustably secured on the lower end ofsaid binder-rod, a treadle swinging on and from a perpendicularlymovable pivot having inter-connection with said cutting-knife, anarcuate-face portion, having a depression on one end, rising from therearward end of said treadle, said portion being eccentric with saidmovable pivot, and a roll-equipped connecting-rod, havinginter-connection with said binder-rod, slidably engaging saidarcuate-face portion, whereby, when the forward end of the treadle isdepressed, the arcuate-face portion, fulcruming on the end of theroll-equipped connectingrod, swings inwardly and bodily downwardly,assisting the forward end of the treadle in lowering said cutting-knife.

3. A machine for rounding the corners of cards and paper sheetscomprising in combination with a reciprocating cutting-knife and apresser-foot adapted to be lowered on to the cards or sheets to securethem while being round-cornered, a connecting-rod having at its upperend interconnection with said cuttingknife, a treadle mounted in saidmachine and having intermediate its ends pivotal connection with thelower end of said connecting-rod, said pivotal connection beingsusceptible of vertical movement only, a second connecting-rod havinginterconnection with said presser-foot and having at its lower end arevoluble roll, and an arcuate face portion on the rearward end of saidtreadle constantly in engagement with said roll, adapted, after the rollhas been raised to bring said presser-foot into engagement with the saidpaper sheets, to cause the intermediate and rear end portions of thetreadle to descend, bodily, as the rearward end swings inwardly inslidingfulcrum contact with said roll.

i. In a round-cornering machine for paper sheets and the like, thecombination with a pedestal, a table, a cutting-knife and a paperbinding element both reciprocably mounted on said table, of aconnecting-rod having at its upper end interconnection with said cuttingknife, a treadle pivotally connected to the lower end of saidconnecting-rod, a stop for limiting the upward movement of saidconnecting-rod, a stop on said pedestal for limiting the upward movementof the forward end of said treadle, and an extensible spring, the upperend of which is fixed on said machine and its lower end attached to saidtreadle at a point intermediate its pivotal point and the treadle stopon said pedestal,

- whereby said connecting-rod is held in its upwardly stopped positionbefore and throughout the primary movement of said treadle.

5. In a round-cornering machine for rounding the corners of cards andpaper sheets the combination with a pedestal, a table mounted on saidpedestal, a cutting-knife and a paper binder each reciprocably mountedon said table, of a connecting-rod having at its upper endinterconnection with said cutting-knife, a second connecting-rod havinga roll on its lower end portion and having connection at its upper endwith said paper binder, a treadle pivotally joined intermediate its endsto the lower end of said first mentioned connecting-rod, a fan-shape,upwardly extending portion on the rearward end of said treadle, theupper face thereof being arcuate and in continuous engagement with saidroll, a seat in said arcuate face in which said roll is disposed whenthe actuating parts are in their normal, at rest positions, a yokedepending from said second connecting-rod, straddling said fan-shapeportion, and means to guide said yoke whereby said roll may be heldagainst displacement from off said arcuate face.

6. A round-cornering machine comprising in combination with a pedestal,a table, a reciprocably mounted cutting-knife and a reciprocably mountedpaper-binder, a connecting-rod having interconnection with saidcutting-knife, a connecting-rod, having a roll on its lower end,interconnecting with said paper-binder, a treadle mounted to swing froma pivotal connection with said first mentioned connecting-rod, a springyieldingly holding said first mentioned connecting-rod in an upwardlystopped position, and means on the rearward end of said treadle,engaging said roll, adapted to respond to the depressing of the forwardend of the treadle to simultaneously depress the rearward portionthereof.

'7. A round-cornering machine adapted for use in rounding the corners ofa stack of sheets comprising in combination with a verticallyreciprocating cutter-bar having a cutting-knife thereon, and avertically reciprocating presserfoot, a connecting rod the upper end ofwhich interconnects with said cutter-bar, a second connecting-rod havinga roll on its lower end and having interconnection with saidpresser-foot, a treadle pivotally mounted on the lower end of said firstmentioned connecting-rod, and means on the rearward end of said treadleslidably engaging said roll, adapted when said presser-foot is disposedon the top of said stack of sheets, to provide a portion of thecuttingknife lowering capacity of the treadle in cooperation with thedownward swinging movement of its forward end.

8. A round-cornering machine for rounding the corners of a stack ofpaper sheets comprising in combination with a reciprocatingknifecarrying member and a presser-foot, a treadle pivotally mounted toswing from the lower end of said knife-carrying member, an eccentricportion on the rearward end of said treadle, means interconnecting saideccentric portion and said presser-foot, and gaging means for said stackof sheets, said means embodying a straight faced member adapted to bepositioned on one side of said stack, a second member disposed on theadjacent side of the stack and having a long face portion merging into ashort oblique one having a rounded end, said oblique portion beingadjacent the cutting knife, and means for positioning said second memberwhereby either face, singly, may be brought into engagement with theadjacent side of the stack.

EDWARD SOUTHWORTH.

